We Act, We Write, We Learn Things

Saturday, 5 September 2015

Without a doubt, the Barbican’s production of Hamlet has undoubtedly
been the most hyped new production we have seen in years. Whether it be the
vastly successful production team who have put the play together – they possess four
Olivier Awards and two Tony Awards, not to mention an Ivor Novello nomination
and an OBE – or the world-star status of the Hamlet himself, Benedict
Cumberbatch.

However, as often it can be perceived, the hype surrounding
a production can doom it to an ultimately disappointing finish. The trouble with
this production of Hamlet is that, bar the exceptional performance of
Cumberbatch, the production simply offers nothing of any consequence.

The resonance of Cumberbatch’s voice is perfect for Hamlet,
especially within the famous “To be or not to be” which, thankfully, is no
longer used to open the play. His physicality is great for presenting humour in
what is often billed as Shakespeare’s greatest tragic play.

Yet, despite the Olivier winning and Oscar nominated actor’s
best efforts, Cumberbatch is doomed by the ridiculous direction of Lyndsey
Turner. At times, she has her star parading across the stage in a scarlet tunic
and hat, before him later hiding from his friends Rosencrantz (Matthew Steer)
and Guildenstern (Rudi Dharmalingam) in a toy castle as if childlike, rather
than haunted by the murder of his father and the rejected love of Ophelia.

Es Devlin’s set design was characteristically grand, yet
her design for the house of Hamlet seemed almost too much for the piece. The
fact that portions of the stage – and thus the actors – were completely out of
view cemented the irony of the claim of ‘accessible theatre’. Coupled with Luke
Halls’ seemingly random periods of video and Jon Hopkins’ music, the overall
vision of the piece seemed to depict some of the nation’s best creatives each competing
with one another to put their own unique stamp on what culminated in being a
rather redundant and noncommittal version of Hamlet.

Siân Brooke’s Ophelia seemed misguided and really offered
very little. Ciarán Hinds as Claudius only really impressed with his monologue at
the end of the third Act, and otherwise seemed lost, as did his new found wife
Gertrude (Anastasia Hille). Leo Bill’s Horatio was interesting and, perhaps,
the only worthy performance bar that of Cumberbatch.

The real tragedy in this production of Hamlet is that it
doesn’t work. The production favours vast and extreme visuals rather than
allowing the narrative and emotional qualities, which have given Shakespeare’s
play the irrefutable reputation it possesses, to flow.

Hamlet is running at the Barbican until the 31st of October. The entire run is sold out; however, 30 day tickets are available at £10 from the Barbican box office from 10.30AM each day.

Wednesday, 19 August 2015

It is unsurprising to hear
that Lawrence Connor’s new production of Miss Saigon broke box office records on
its first day of sales. Boubil and Schönberg’s musical can only be described as
epic in all proportions yet still manages to produce a truly superb show.

The musical famously takes its
central ideas from the opera Madame Butterfly, yet transfers the location to
1970s Vietnam as Saigon falls, making the doomed relationship between bar worker
Kim, and American GI, Chris.

Eva Noblezada (Kim) and Sangwoong Jo (Thuy)

Eva Noblezada shone as Kim in
her professional and West End debut, and is clearly deserving of her
Whatsonstage Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her desperation in caring for
her son, and in discovering she is doomed to never be with Chris, was positively
heart-breaking.

Chris Peluso, as Chris, sung well
but it was hard to like his character. In contrast, Ethan Le Phong (Thuy) was
superbly determined for Kim to return his love. Hugh Maynard (John) left a chilling
and poignant message in Act 2 opener, Bui Doi, reminding us how that the true
effects of war goes further than just who lives and who dies.

The show was stolen, however,
by Jon Jon Briones as The Engineer. Having featured in the original production
in 1989, Briones’ Engineer was vulgar and brash, with his rendition of The
American Dream a visual masterpiece.

Ho Chi Minh City. The Morning of the Dragon.

Totie Driver and Matt Kinley’s
set design was superb, ranging from the neon slickness of Bangok to the
extraordinary and impressive scenes at the fall of Saigon featuring the
world-famous helicopter which was even more impressive than expected.

What is clear from the new
production Miss Saigon is that it if more orientated on the political nature of
the musical. The capitalist ventures of America seem mirrored in the doomed entrepreneurship
of The Engineer, whilst Kim kills herself in order to ensure her son gets a
better life in America. It is a real shame that a musical that takes itself
seriously enough to carry such heavyweight themes so well is to leave London in
February 2016, but this is definitely a spectacle not to miss.

Monday, 17 August 2015

Earlier this month (August),
the National Youth Theatre made the decision to cancel their production of Omar
El-Khairy’s new play, Homegrown. El-Khairy
and, director, Nadia Fall, said that voices had been “silenced”, in regards to
the cancellation of the play inspired by three young girls from Bethnal Green
travelling to Syria to join Islamic State.

Whilst some will argue that in
light of the rise of Islamic extremism, it was appropriate to cancel the play
in light of any potential fallout, the move by the NYT has been widely condemned
by arts figures including Donmar Warehouse Artistic Director, Josie Rourke, and
David Lan, who is at the helm of the Young Vic who described the censorship as “a
troubling moment for British theatre and freedom of expression".

It is undeniably that the
censorship of arts restricts intelligent debate, reduces the quality of work
created and binds the artists to a production which often does not fit their
vision; however, this has not stopped the squeeze on challenging and thought
provoking work since it was considered “thoroughly dangerous” for Shakespeare
to prevent tyrannical Richard III in anything but a negative light.

The bard himself often
pandered to his patrons, with some historians believing that the inclusion of genealogical
information linking King James I – Shakespeare’s patron at the time – to have
descended from the line of Banquo, to fuel the King’s interest in the topic.

In stark contrast, Mike
Barlett’s 2014 play, King Charles III,
depicted the death of Elizabeth II, before seeing Charles, the new king, refuse
to grant royal assent, the resulting dissolution of parliament, widespread
rioting and the usurping of his throne by his son, Prince William. Barlett’s
open critique did prompt, according to Guardian critic Michael Billington, ““titillating
shock”, it’s Olivier Award for Best New Play and transfers to the West End and
Broadway demonstrate the success that a controversial play can offer.

Unfortunately, some plays do
not even get the opportunity to prove themselves. In 2004, Gupreet Kaur Bhatti
published her play Bhetzi, performed
in Birmingham. The play sparked controversy, due to a scene set in a Sikh
temple which conveyed rape, physical abuse, homosexuality and murder. Violent
protests by some members of the Sikh community at the theatre led to the
production being cancelled.

The actions of the protestors
were condemned by numerous industry figures, including Willy Russell, Richard
Eyre and Shelia Hancock, who in a joint letter, said “we all have the right to
protest peacefully if a work of art offends us. We do not have the right to use
violence and intimidation to prevent that work of art from being seen by
others.”

This was replicated in Brett
Bailey’s Exhibit B. The performance
featured black actors chained as if in the human zoos which were popular during
the 19th and early 20th Centuries in the US and Western Europe. Whilst running
in Edinburgh – a festival which is widely known for the variety and unusual,
sometimes shocking, nature of its theatre – the performance was dubbed a
“masterstroke”; however, upon transferring to the Barbican in September 2014
faced an enormous backlash. A petition calling for the “racist” production to
be cancelled received over 20,000 signatures, before protests on the opening
night led to the Barbican cancelling the run of Exhibit B at their venue due to
safety concerns.

With the success of King Charles III and the similarly
controversial, yet popular, The Book of
Mormon flying the flag for risqué and brash theatre, we must wonder how Exhibit B, Bhetzi and Homeland would have fared. The really
tragic thing is that we will never know.

Monday, 29 June 2015

The phrase “best young
playwright” is thrown around almost carelessly nowadays; however, Nick Payne
arguably seizes the title with no intentions of letting go through his 2012
play Constellations. After an initial opening at the Royal Court, before transferring
both to the West End and Broadway, Payne’s masterpiece embarked on its first
ever UK tour, which I was lucky enough to witness at the Cambridge Arts
Theatre.

Tom Scutt’s designs were
simplistic but effective. The ever-present pulsing of the chromospheres
resonated with Payne’s depiction of the existence of multiverses, alongside the
intelligent compositions of Simon Slater and David McSeveney’s sound design.
Michael Longhurst’s direction was succinct and sublime, and his collaboration
with Lucy Cullingford’s, who focused on movement, ensured that each parallel
scene was distinct enough to create a complete different emotional response
from the audience, yet demonstrate the essence of Payne’s play.

Joe Armstrong, who has
appeared in Flare Path in the West End and The Bill, gave a solid performance
as Roland possessing perfect comic timing and demonstrating a strong
juxtaposition from scene to scene. His obvious on stage chemistry with Doctor
Who’s Louise Brealey shone throughout. Brealey’s physicality was strong and
energetic throughout, and her variety of character was superb. Often in plays
which use only a cast of two it can seem bare on such a vast stage as in
Constellations, but Armstrong and Brealey raced through the 80 minute script.

Constellations was a hit
when it was released, and this reincarnation is no different. The original
artistic team were reunited, and the success of Constellations is evident
through their jobs between the two stints. Longhurst directed the extraordinary
‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore at the Sam Wannamaker Playhouse and Carmen Disruption
at the Almeida, whilst Tom Scutt was responsible for design for King Charles
III which transferred from the Almeida to the Wyndham’s after a successful run
there. For what is really a simplistic production, it is remarkable how well
the creatives have brought to life Payne’s superb script.

Friday, 29 May 2015

Now, I know what you're thinking. Ballet? Really? And you're probably right. I'll be the first to admit that I am not the worlds biggest ballet fan. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it and I admire ballerinas everywhere for the astonishing things they can do, but seeing The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House at the beginning of the year did not thrill me-although that may have been the poor seats, for which I am, once again, sorry for!

So going into Harlow Ballet's production of Snow White I had this in the back of my mind. However no sooner was it there then it was annihilated, abolished and ignored because I loved it! The production, choreographed by Hayley Burns was truly excellent!

The story stuck to the original fairy tale, as opposed to Disney's adaptation, so there were no little dwarves running around! Instead, Snow White, performed by Emily Bird, was accompanied by the Huntsman, who Joe Bishop conveyed excellently, and a group of rebels, who rounded the group off especially well. They also managed to put their stage combat skills to the test, taking on the Raven Army of the witch, Ravenna, who Claire Hickles shone as, in what was an excellent finale!

Groups of dancers made up the King's Court, a nearby Village and a bunch of Fairies who arrived to guide Snow White, stretching the story beyond the central characters and truly transporting us into the magical land in which we were a part of.

It is without any doubt, therefore, that I say that this was the best ballet I think I've seen. I thoroughly enjoyed myself from start to finish and I look forward to whatever Harlow Ballet has in store for us next!

Monday, 11 May 2015

Spain is a haven for
criminals, or so Brian Clemen’s Inside Job leads us to believe. The thriller
was the latest production by the Moot House Players, running for three days
last week.

When confronted by the
gorgeous Suzy, Larry, a professional safe cracker and criminal, thinks he has
hit it big – all he needs to do is steal the diamonds from her husband’s safe
and run away with her to Rio. That is until Alex, her husband, also asks Larry
to kill his wife in order to gain her £100,000 life insurance. Multiple plot
twists that could only be found in a Clemen’s thriller ensue before an unexpected
conclusion.

Dan Powell’s direction was
spot on, ensuring that the pace was kept throughout. As well as directing,
Powell played Larry which he did equally well. He combined well with Kevin
Smith, as Alex, to create some particularly humorous moments. Kerry Rowland put
in an equally strong performance – even managing to surprise me with the sheer
amount of time that she can lie dead for!

The professionalism of the
cast was clearly evident as they were word –perfect and clearly knew their
direction like the back of their hand. It was also nice to see the players
elevate their level of effects, all operated excellently by Claire Quley, with
a very impressive pyrotechnic being let off at the end of the first act!

Whilst the script itself was
not the best written, often digressing and over-explaining simple plot
elements, the cast put on a solid performance of a popular genre with the Moot
House audience. I look forward to seeing their next offering – Pygmalion in
July!

Wednesday, 6 May 2015

It is often said that you cannot take Shakespeare’s The
Comedy of Errors seriously, and this is the same in Jeanne Stacey’s production.
She adopts conventions of the silent film era – using slapstick comedy,
melodramatic gestures, intense physicality and some truly excellent reactions –
in her direction for Harlow Theatre Company to bring the farce to life.

The play revolves around the separation of two sets of twins
who are reunited as a result of a series of seemingly coincidental events in
very quick succession, concluding in both a marriage and a reunion!

The cast were made up of past and present students of Phoenix
Theatre School, and worked very well under Stacey’s guidance. Will Saunders and
Daniel Boulton played the two Antipholus’, with both portrayals being
distinctive enough to create different types of humour, but similar enough to
notice, in hindsight, that they actually were twins.

Their confused wife was the excellent Katie Miller, who
played the alcohol dependent and hilariously scatty Adriana. Molly Jenkins was
her servant, Luciana, and the pair’s onstage chemistry was superbly funny.

Drew Gregg was the scheming goldsmith, Angelo, who stood out
with a thick, yet clear, accent throughout and some great physicality. His
nervous twitch worked similarly to Rhiannon Bates’ boundless reactions, with
both ensuring that they embodied their characters throughout.

Joe Llewelyn, Ollie Stacey and George Jack all multi-roled
well, with Llewelyn’s portrayal of the rather plump kitchen maid, Luce, being
particularly notable.

The two stand out performers from the production, however,
were Will Edden and Joseph Vaiana who played the twin Dromio’s. They were bold
and energetic throughout and deservedly took the final bow.

Rob Dyer’s simple set design worked very well in conjunction
with Stacey’s directorial vision, and the projections detailing the scene and the
context were very effective; perhaps more so than in any production I have seen
utilise such a method before. The costumes were very apt for each character and
helped us to imagine the true farcical nature of the plot.

It was clear that this production was created very collaboratively
between the director and the cast in order to make a really fun piece of
theatre. The script was adapted to just the right length and made this a
comfortable ninety minutes of playful acting.